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STEUBENVILLE. 



SKETCH OF 



OJt 



MANUFACTURING, 

durational I offer \ nstitationa. 



ITS ADVANTAGES FOR 



Business or Residence. 



pl)BU$HED BY PlRECTIOj^ OF THE j3lTY ;pOUJMCIL. 



ALBERT F. MATLACK, 
R. L. BROWNLEE, 
GEO. W. ALBAN. - 



) Committee. 



COMPILED BY 



JOSEPH B. DOYLE. 



STEUBENVILLE : 

PRINTED AT STEUBENVILLE HERALD BOOK AND JOB PRINTING HOUSE, 
l8 79 . 



97 



City Officers for 1879. 



JOHN IRWIN, 
DOUGLAS W. CAHILL, 
A. H. BATTIN, . 
DAVID HULL, 
GEO. E. HARPER, 
J. M. BARCLAY, 
GEORGE O'NEAL, 



Mayor. 

Marshal. 

Solicitor. 

Commissioner. 

Clerk. 

Civil Engineer. 

Wharfmaster. 



Councilmen. 



JONES MUNKER, 
ALBERT F. MATLACK, 



President. 
President pro tem. 



JOSEPH BEATTY, 
W. D LEWIS, 
GEO. L. CONN, 
H. G. GAR RETT, 
A. F. MATLACK, 
GEO SMITH, 



B. N. LINDSEY, 
G. W. ALBAN, 
R. L. BROWNLEE, 
JONES MUNKER, 
CHARLES MOODEY 



First Ward. 

Second 

Third 

Fourth 

Fifth 



HENRY OPPERMAN, Sixth 



Water Works Trustees. 

C. B. DOTY, W. H HARDEN, 

JOSEPH ANDERSON. 

Fire Department. 

CHARLES R. THOMPSON, .... Chief. 
V. W. BERRY, THOMAS STERLING. 

Board of Education. 

CHARLES SPAULDING, - - - President. 

W. R. PETERS, JOHN S. PATTERSON, 

A. M. BLACKBURN, JOHN S. MAXWELL, 

J. H. DAWSON. 



CONTENTS 



Page. 

City Officers, ........ 2 

Preface and Memoranda ..... 4 

Introductory, ... .... 5 

Former and Present Manufactures, ... 9 

Coal and Mining, ...... 13 

Other Minerals, ....... 22 

Commercial Facilities, . . . . . . 24 

Schools and Education, ... . 27 

Churches and Religion, ...... 34 

Public Buildings, Grounds, &c, ... 41 

Water and Fire Departments, .... 44 

City Finances, ....... 47 

Sanitary and Climate, ...... 49 

Real Estate and Renin. ..... 50 



PR EFAC E. 

This little pamphlet is published for the purpose of presenting 
in compact and convenient form a general view of our manufac- 
tories and institutions, together with the advantages of Steuben- 
ville as a place for business or residence. Much more could 
doubtless have been added, and it may be that in the limited 
space at command, some things may have been omitted which 
should have been inserted, but we trust that enough is shown to 
demonstrate that our city cannot be easily excelled in advantages 
of position for any purpose. 

MEMORANDA. 



Following is a list of institutions in the city, which has been 
crowded from its proper place in the body of the work, giving 
the names, date of organization and present number of members : 



Organized. 

S50, 



Members 
116 
30 
6S 
7° 
(•5 
138 
1 12 

•65 
103 

86 
160 

5° 

I" 



Commandery No. 11, Knights Templar 

Union Council No. 2, R. & S. M 1S66, 

Union Chapter, No. i> R. A. M 1827, 

Steubenville Lodge, No. 45, F. & A. M [820, 

Meridian Lodge, No. 234, " '854> 

Freemasons' Mutual Benefit Association [871, 

Nimrod Encampment, No. ,5, I. O. O. F., '840, 

Jefferson Lodge, No. 6, " '836, 

Good Will Lodge, No. 143, " _ 1850, 

Golden Rule Lodge, No. 04, Degree of Rebecca 1874, 

Steuben Lodge, No. 1, Knights of Pythias > x > 9, 

Eureka Lodge, No. 55, "' " 1871, 

[vanhoe Division ('. K. " " '878, 

Steubenville Grove, No. 25, U. A. O. D 1870, 

A.. P. A., Zion Lodge, No. 16 1870, 70 

American Star Council, No. 7, O. V. A. M., 1S69, 50 

Temple ol I Ibnor, Logan Council, No. 2, 1854, 21 

Republican Temple of Honor, No. 24, > s t s . 30 

Steuben Social Temple, No. 7, iSgl, 55 

Steubenville Turnverein, ,S 7I- 4' 

Chandler Lodge, No. 857, K. of H [S7S, 56 

Stanton Council, No. 343, Royal Arcanum C70, 23 

St. Patrick's Society 

Am it nt ( )rder of 1 flbernians 

Branch No. 2, Emerald Association r873, 25 

Philharmonic Society [868, 50 

Harmonie Society 1866, 18 

Lecture and Library Club, 1^70, 

Female Bible Society 1S18, 

The Sunday Local should be added to the list of newspapers 
on page 8, making eight the present number in the city, with a 
ninth, the Ohio Press, by W. R. Allison, in prospect. 

On page 39 for May 20, read May 13. 

On page 4i for " Union Seminary," read Union Cemetery. 



INTRODUCTORY 



On the right bank of the upper Ohio, sixty-eight miles by 
water below Pittsburgh, and four hundred above Cincinnati, sur- 
rounded by tall hills partly covered by the primeval forest and 
partly cleared for cultivation, stands the city of Steubenville. It 
lies in 40 25' north latitude and 3 40' west longitude from 
Washington. The water in the Ohio river at this point is about 
1,000 feet in width from shore to shore at average height, and at 
low water mark is 640^ feet above the sea. The Cleveland & 
Pittsburgh railroad, running through the city is 90 feet above 
Lake Erie at the foot of Market street, and the Pittsburgh, Cin- 
cinnati & St. Louis Railway is 155 feet above the lake, at its 
intersection with Washington street, high enough to secure cool- 
ing breezes in summer, without the accompaniment of too rigor- 
ous cold in winter. The corporation proper presents a frontage 
on the river of about three miles with an average width of some- 
thing less than a mile, including within its boundaries 1,676 acres. 

Steubenville is one of the earliest settled points in the State, 
and previous to presenting some of its advantages as a locality 
possessing more than ordinary advantages for sojourn, residence 
or business, a short historical sketch may not prove uninteresting. 

When George Washington made his excursion down the Ohio 
in 1770, although settlements had already been made at the junc- 
tion of the Ohio and Monongahela rivers, and in Western Penn- 
sylvania, and at the breaking out of the revolution had reached 
the line of the upper Ohio on the south and east, and the line of 
the great lakes on the north, yet that conflict checked the tide of 
emigration so that it was not until long after that this fertile part 
of our National heritage was thrown open for settlement. 
2 



6 

The first permanent location of any sort on the site of the 
present city was a blockhouse built by Captain Hamtramck, an 
officer of the United States army, which was constructed as a 
refuge and protection to the surveyors, who had begun laying off 
the country into sections and townships. The following year a 
wooden fort was erected, strong enough to withstand any of the 
enemies who were expected to move against it, and named after 
Baron Steuben, a Prussian Noble of revolutionary fame. The 
fort stood on the bank of the river, probably nearly, if not 
directly north of the present line of Adams street, and consisted 
of four block houses 28 feet square set at equal distances apart, 
and connected by a line of pickets 150 feet in length each way. 
After being in use a few months the garrison was removed to the 
mouth of the Muskingum, and in 1790 the abandoned fort was 
destroyed by fire. 

We next hear of the place in connection with the purchase of 
the ground on which the town afterwards stood, by James Ross 
and Bezaleel Wells, in the fall of 1797. The original town lay 
along the bank of the river, and was bounded by North and South 
streets and Bank alley respecthely. It consisted of 236 inlots 
60x180 feet, with 20 outlots of five acres each, with suitable 
streets and alleys. The first lots were sold at public sale in 
February, 1798, and this really marked the beginning of the 
village. Plain houses were of course erected at first, the original 
brick chimney being constructed by John Ward in the following 
month. Work was begun that year on the Wells mansion, south 
of town, which was nearly two years in building, and at that 
time was the most pretentious dwelling in this part of the country. 
It is still standing, being known as the "Grove" property in the 
First Ward. The establishment of the United States land office, 
and the place being a central point, caused it from this time to 
grow quite rapidly. The following additional scraps of history 
are taken from a work published by the writer sometime since : 

"It may be of interest here to know that the first white child 
born in Steubenville was James Hunter, son of Samuel Hunter, 
on the 1 8th day of September, 1798, and the next, John Ward, 
Jr., the next month. The latter has long since been gathered to 
his fathers, but the former is still living in Yuba county, Cali- 
fornia. 



"The first Court was held here on the first Tuesday of No- 
vember, 1797, and was organized under proclamation of Winthrop 
Sargent, acting-Governor of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio. 
The Judges were Philip Cable John Moody and George Humph- 
ries, and Bezaleel Wells prothonotary or clerk. On the first day 
day of the session John Wolfe, James Wallace and Solomon Sibley 
were admitted to the bar as attorneys Court appears to have 
met first in private houses, but at an early date a log structure was 
erected on the present Court House square, the lower story being 
used as a jail, and the upper for a Court Room. This served its 
purpose until 1809, when it was removed to make room for a 
brick structure, designed by John Ward, which was erected in 
1809-10. This building, fully up to the times at that period 
remained standing until 1S70, when it was torn down to be re- 
placed by the present magnificent structure. 

"For a period the town progressed slowly, and as late as 1820 
Washington street was nothing but a miry cow path, and it was 
many years before the great mineral wealth, the mainspring of 
Steubenville's present prosperity, was fully appreciated. The 
city was growing, however, slowly but surely, and as the surround- 
ing country became settled, became an important commercial and 
manufacturing centre. 

"The town became incorporated as a city March 5th, 1851. 
The population of the city in i860 was 6,154. in 1870, 8,107, by 
the census. In 1871 considerable additional territory was taken 
into the corporation limits, making its territory to contain, accord- 
ing to that census, 10,000 people, and the population to-day is 
probably not less than 13,000 to 15,000." 

The city at present supports seven newspapers, two dailies, 
four weeklies and one monthly. The first paper started was the 
Weekly Herald, which with a single exception, is the oldest 
newspaper in the State, and the largest four-page paper in the 
Union. It was established in 1806 by Messrs. Lowry & Miller, 
and it with the D lily Herald established by W. R. Allison in 1847, 
is now published by P. B. Conn. Both papers are Republican 
in politics. 

The Weekly Gazette was started by Charles N. Allen in 1865, 
the same gentleman adding a daily in the fall of 1873. These 



8 

papers are now published by McFadden & Hunter, and are the 
leading Democratic journals of this section of country, 

The Germania was started in 1876 by R. Schnorrenberg, and 
is printed in the German language. It is independent in politics, 
and is now published by Max Gescheider. 

The Chronicle is a new Sunday paper published by Edgar A. 
Elliott, devoted to general news. 

The Woolgrowers' Bulletin is the official journal of the Wool- 
growers' Exchange, and as its name indicates, makes a specialty 
of that branch of industry. Its regular issue is once a month, but 
during the busy season, sometimes appears as often as once a 
week. 

It will thus be seen that Steubenville has a local press of stand- 
ing and influence, notwithstanding its nearness to several large 
cities enables the journals of those places to be brought hither 
within at most a few hours from time of publication. 

Most of the ancient landmarks have disappeared, but the 
house where the late Hon. Edwin M. Stanton was born, and 
other objects of interest still remain. The old Market House, built 
in 181 6, was among the last to go, and the space formerly occupied 
by it is now used as a public square. 



Former and Present Manufactures. 



Steubenville at a very early date took front rank as a manu- 
facturing town, which she has always retained, although the 
character of the leading manufactures has been changed since the 
discovery of shalt coal in this neighborhood. 

The pioneer enterprise in the way of manufacturing was a 
grist and saw mill built in 1802 by Bezaleel Wells, on Wells's run 
then south of the city limits. A tannery was also in operation 
just north of the head of Market street at the same time. 

A woolen mill was built at the head of Market street in 1814, 
which stood until 1867, when it was destroyed by fire, exactly 52 
years from the day that its engine started. 

The pioneer nail factory was built by Robert Thompson in 
181 1, making the nails by hand. 

Two years later the Clinton paper mills were built, which, al- 
though being once entirely destroyed by fire were rebuilt with 
modern improvements, and are now in operation in charge of Mr. 
J. F. Dunbar, and employ 25 hands and turn out 5,000 pounds of 
paper per clay, which supplies a number of daily journals in the 
large cities. 

The first foundry was established by Arthur M. Phillips and 
Robert Carroll in 181 6, and the same foundry enlarged and im- 
proved is in operation to-day under the ownership of James Means 
& Co., who have made extensive arrangements for the manufac- 
ture of steam engines and machinery generally, which they send 
all over the country. 

Boatbuilding was a feature of the early days, a yard being run 
on the present site of C. Staples' s sawmill as early as 1819. The 
"Bezaleel Wells," "Robert Thompson," "Steubenville" and "Au- 
rora were among the steamers built here, and although the 
shops were destroyed by fire, a saw and planing mill were -put up 
in their place, which in turn fell victims to the flames. But 
the mill was rebuilt, and in the last two years boat building has 



10 

been revived with results that give encouragement that large 
steamers may again be constructed here. 

A leading establishment in 1813 was a large steam flouring 
mill built at the foot of Market street, but it was destroyed by fire 
in 1856. It was not rebuilt, but has been replaced by two other 
mills ; the .-Etna, belonging to Raney, Sheal & Co., at the corner 
of Sixth and North streets and the California at the corner of 
Washington and Seventh, with a capacity of r2o barrels of flour 
per day. 

David Larimer built a cotton factory at the foot of Adams 
street in 1824-5, which was destroyed by fire in 1832. The Ark- 
wright cotton mills were an important manufactory previous to 
the war, but the building is now used as the headquarters of the 
Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia Wool Growers' Exchange, 
an inter State association, which selected Steubenville as its loca- 
tion on account of its superior shipping facilities and other ad- 
vantages of this city, and the fact that it is the centre of probably 
the best wool growing region of the world. 

The Ashland woolen mills were another important manufac- 
tory, but the fire fiend which in former years seems to have had 
a special spite against Steubenville's industries, swept them away 
on two different occasions. The woolen factory of James L. 
McDevitt, although it was once burned down was rebuilt and is 
still standing. 

It is a fact not generally known that not only does Steuben- 
ville make more tumblers than any other city on the globe, but 
an amount equal to the combined product of all the balance of 
the country. The works were first constructed in 1846 by Joseph 
Beatty and Edward Stillman on South Third street. In 1852 
they were taken charge of by A. J. Beatty, who increased the busi- 
ness so largely that in 1862 the old works were torn down and in 
place of them with their single stack, new ones with two stacks 
and four times the capacity of the old ones were erected. They 
arc now managed by sons of the late proprietor, being still run 
under the firm name of A. J. Beatty & Sons, and notwithstanding 
the general depression in business have run with remarkable 
steadiness for years past, shipping their wares to all parts of the 
world, and competing with the English manufacturers in their 
own markets. The works employ about 160 hands and when in 
full operation turn out upwards of 36,000 tumblers per day. 



11 

The next establishment started after the Steubenville glass 
works was the Ohio Foundry in 1848. It is still in active opera- 
tion under charge of W. L. Sharp & Son, who do a large business 
in the manufacture of stoves, fire fronts, mantels and iron work 
generally, which is a credit to any house. 

The largest single manufacturing establishment of the city is 
the Jefferson Iron Works, which although it might be said to be 
a combination of manufactories under control of one corporation, 
yet has one single main object the making of nails. These works 
were originally constructed by Frazier, Kilgore & Co., in 1856 
but came into the hands of the present owners in 1859, whose 
energy and experience in the business have made them a grand 
success, and besides greatly enlarging the capacity of the mill 
proper, have constructed two large blast furnaces, sunk a coal shaft 
for their own use, and made other marked improvements, so that 
to-day there is probably not a better or more complete works of 
the kind through the country. Notwithstanding the depression 
of the iron trade generally the last few years the fires in their fur- 
naces have kept steadily up, save only when I hey closed down last 
summer to make extensive repairs and improvements which still 
should further reduce the cost of production. The excellence of 
their nails always gives them a ready market at the highest price. 
The works comprise two large blast furnaces, twenty-two boiling 
furnaces, three heating furnaces, and a set of eighty-four nail 
machines with a capacity of 3,500 kegs per week. The capacity 
of the furnaces is 24,000 tons of pig iron per year. The coal 
shaft and coke ovens attached to the works will be noticed else- 
where. 

At the upper end of the city stand the works of the Steuben- 
ville Furnace & Iron Company, with a capacity of 14,000 tons 
per annum, and convenient coal shaft and coke ovens. Notwith- 
standing the glowing advertisements of some other regions, there 
is little doubt that iron can be produced here as cheaply as any 
other place in the Union. This furnace is now in operation, 
turning out a superior quality of iron which finds a ready market. 

The Alikana works at the mouth of Wills Creek, about a mile 
above the corporation limits, were built in 1873. They are fur- 
nished with puddling furnaces and suitable machinery for making 
bar iron, and have a coal shaft 125 teet in depth, reaching a good 
vein of coal right at their doors. 



12 

The Acme Flint Glass Works belonging to Gill Bros. & Co., 
in the Fifth Ward, are devoted to the manufacture of lamp chim- 
neys, and ?re one of the most extensive institutions of the kind 
in the country. In fact the enormous stack erected by them a 
short time since, is the largest one of the kind in the United 
States, and the works turn out no less than 275,000 lamp chim- 
neys per week. 

The Mingo Iron Works are located two miles below the city, 
and consist of two large blast furnaces, with improved shipping 
facilities both by river and rail, and have connected with them a 
series of coke and ovens and a shaft 260 feet deep. 

Just adjoining here are the Anchor Oil Works which carry 
on the refining business, and are fitted up with superior ma- 
chinery. 

The Pan-Handle Chemical Works, owned by Messrs. Mc- 
Laughlin and Long turn out a superior quality of ground bone 
dust, and have built up quite an extensive trade in this fertilizer. 

Gas works were erected in 1852, and the city is now supplied 
by them. The regularly authorized price is $1.90 P er thousand 
cubic feet. 

The cupola furnace of Samuel Irwin in the Sixth Ward, and 
patent metal roof manufactory of Grafton & Hanvey are also 
worthy of mention. 

In closing this hasty sketch of our manufactures we would not 
forget the P., C. & St. L. car shops, where the best of work in 
this line is turned out; the large Furniture Manufactory of Pearce 
& Sons, the planing mills of L. & W. C. Anderson and Robt, 
Hyde, the Fisher copperas works, the Winning keg factory, the 
Easier and Butte breweries, the Hineman and Grauten soap 
factories, the blank book manufactories of P. B. Conn and 
Sprague & Carnahan, and other minor works. 

The one feature to which we desire to call special attention 
is the regularity with which as a whole our manufactories have run 
during the six years of commercial depression which, let us hope, 
are about closing. Steubenville felt the effects of the panic as 
did every other community, and many have been forced to prac- 
tice economy, but the widespread distress if not actual starva- 
tion caused by the breakdown of old established firms has been 
unknown here. And it is a fact worth mentioning that during 
the prevalence of the extensive railroad strikes of 1877, the only 



shops connected with the great trunk lines of the country which 
did not stop running, were those at Steubenville. Here the 
whistle blowed as regularly, and the work went on as smoothly as 
though the skies all around were tranquil and serene instead of 
blackened with clouds and filled with echoes of the raging tem- 
pest. Attempts to make trouble here were thwarted by the good 
sense of those to whom the appeal was made, and the reputation 
of the city as a law abiding community fully sustained. The in- 
telligence and conservatism of the resident workingmen and 
mechanics of Steubenville have made themselves manifest on 
other occasions so as to be the subject of remark, and how far 
this is due to the climatic and natural advantages of the place 
ording steady employment at remunerative wages, is difficult to 
tell. Certain it is that manufacturers can nowhere find workmen 
possessing the elements of reliability and skill to a greater extent 
in any locality, and this, as every competent judge knows, is a 
very large item to be considered in the success of any enterprise. 



Coal and Mining. 



For all classes of manufacturing an abundant and cheap supply 
of good fuel is the first requisite — without which no establishment 
or community can depend on permanent success, as the history 
of the past five years has too abundantly shown in many respects. 
This, however, is emphatically one of Steubenville's strong points. 
She has an inexhaustible supply of fuel, good and cheap. Near 
the tops of the hills are the seams of Pittsburgh coal worked from 
horizontal banks, which for many years were the city's sole sup- 
ply, when the greater supplies of black diamonds further down 
in the bowels of the earth were unheard of and even unthought 
of. But in 1857 it was determined to reach these lower veins by 
shafts, and the pioneer effort was made in this direction at the 
head of Market streeet by Mr. James Wallace and others, forming 
the corporation known as the Steubenville Coal & Mining Com- 
pany. The work, however, was new and the managers inexpe- 
rienced, but coal was finally reached at a depth of 221 feet and 
4 inches, and since 1865 the workings of the mine have been 
3 



14 

most successful. A new shaft was sunk at Stony Hollow about a 
mile north of the old shaft in 1S71, thus affording two outlets to 
the mine. Some 600 acres of coal lands embracing the 4^4 foot 
seam now worked, with a 6 foot one further down, are now the 
property of the concern. When business is brisk over 7,000 
bushels of coal per day are taken from the mines, and with 100 
coke ovens capable of producing 3,500 bushels of coke per day, 
which is shipped to all points, a large trade is done in this direc- 
tion. 

Adjoining the coal field of the Steubenville Coal & Mining 
Company on the south is that of the Jefferson Iron Works, con- 
taining 800 acres. The average thickness of their working vein 
is about three feet nine inches, and from this in the busy season 
are raised 5,000 bushels of coal per day, which run their mill and 
supply the coke ovens turning out 2,500 bushels of coke each 
twenty-four hours. This shaft has been in operation since 1863, 
and is 175 feet in depth. 

Just south of this is the shaft of the Ohio and Pennsylvania 
Coal Company, sunk in 1861-62, better known as the Averick 
shaft. It is 210 feet in depth and its annual capacity over 600,- 
000 bushels of coal, a large proportion of which is shipped to 
Cleveland. They also have 28 coke ovens with all the modern 
improvements. 

The last shaft in this series is that belonging to the Swift iron 
works of Newport, Ky., orginally known as the Boreland shaft. 
It has been open since 1862, and is 240 feet in depth. Its worka- 
ble vein is 4 feet in thickness, and it can raise 800,000 bushels 
of coal yearly. The facilities for shipping by water are unusually 
good, and nearly all its product is disposed of in this way. All 
of the Steubenville pits are so located that they can arrange for 
loading coal into the barges without the expense of cartage. A 
number of coke ovens are attached to the Boreland shaft, but have 
not been in operation for some time, all the coal being shipped in 
its raw state. 

The shaft of the Steubenville Furnace & Iron Company has 
already been referred to. It is 96 feet in depth, and brings up 
2,000 bushels of coal per day, supplying a series of coke ovens for 
the furnace as well as the local market. 

About half a mile above this is the shaft of the Jefferson Coal 
& Iron Company, 76 feet deep, with a number of coke ovens. 



15 

They sell a large proportion of their coal to the Cleveland & 
Pittsburgh railroad. 

Above this are the Alikanna and Cable shafts, the first already 
referred to, A considerable quantity of coal is consumed yearly 
from the banks opened into the Pittsburgh vein previous to the 
opening of the shafts, and some of these banks do a good busi- 
ness. This latter coal partakes of the characteristics of the Pitts- 
burgh vein, being remarkably free from impurities, burning away 
to a fine ash, and much desired for domestic purposes. But the 
main reliance for manufacturing is now of course on the shaft 
coal, because of its almost inexhaustible quantity as well as its 
heat making quality, and concerning it we will give the testimony 
of rigid analyses and disinterested witnesses. 

The vein from which the main supply is drawn is No. 6 of the 
Ohio Geological survey, and of this vein the report says [Geology 
Vol. II, p. 146]: 

"This is probably the most interesting and important of all 
our coal seams. It attains greater thickness, occupies a wider 
area, and in different outcrops and phases supplies a larger amount 
of fuel than any other, It also seems destined to make in the 
future still more important contributions to the wealth of the 
State. * * * At Steubenville it is about four feet in thickness, 
a partially open burning coal of great excellence. It has been 
considerably used in the raw state for the manufacture of iron, 
but it is now more generally coked." 

So much as to the virtues of coal No. 6 in general, now as to 
its comparative value at Steubenville and other points. On page 
149 of the volume referred to there are thirteen analyses of coals 
taken from this vein as it is mined in as many different parts of 
the State, the results of these analyses being as follows: 

Specific Volatile Fixed 

Gravity. Moisture. Combustible. Carbon. Ash. Sulphur. 

New Lisbon, Col. Cy., 1.260 3.4.5 35-56 56.36 4.63 2.50 

Camp Run, do 1.270 1.525 3$-4 2 5 57-9-5 2.125 i- 22 

Salineville, do 1.280 1.40 34-co 59-55 4-45 2. 11 

Linton, 1.276 2.60 35.17 55.S0 6.43 2.63 

Carbon Hill, 1.2S0 1.60 29.29 64.50 4.00 2.S0 

Millersburg, 1.369 5.10 39.00 51.70 4.20 2.26 

Uhrichsville, 1.244 3- 2 ° 34- 2 ° 5S.00 4.60 1.54 

Steubenville Shaft, 1.305 1,40 30.90 65.90 1.S0 0.9S 

Waynesbure 1.273 3.30 33.30 60.00 3.40 0.66 

Keith's. Coshocton Cy 1.330 4.00 36.20 54-7° S-'O 2.69 

Rock Run, Musk. Cy"., 1.293 3.47 37-SS 53, 30 5.^5 2.235 

N. Straitsville, 1.269 6.90 30.25 58.19 4.66 0.79 

Nelsonville, 1.2S0 5.95 32.38 57.12 4.55 0.77 

The most valuable element in coal for manufacturing purposes 
is its fixed carbon, and by the above table it will be seen that the 



16 

Steubenville shaft coal contains a greater percentage of this 
essential element than any other in the list. But had we space 
to publish all the analyses given of the coal from the other veins, 
published in this same volume, the strong fact would be brought 
out that our coals contain more fixed carbon than any other in the 
State. Consequently we are warranted in saying that a po nd 
of Steubenville coal will do more work than a pound selected from 
any other locality of our great commonwealth. With regard to 
ash and sulphur, those nuisances in the coal veins, the showing is 
equally favorable. As to ash Steubenville stands decidedly lower 
than any of the other points, and nearly at the bottom on sul- 
phur. The latter shows less than one per cent., and while the 
difference between Steubenville and the lowest on the list is so 
small as to be of no practical consequence the difference between 
it and the highest is very marked. Ash and sulphur combined 
make a smaller percentage than any of the other examples. 

Volume III. of the same series says further of this vein: 
"Coal No. 6 — the 'big vein' of the northern part of Jefferson, 
county, the 'shaft coal' of Steubenville and Rush Run, is the 
thickest and most valuable coal found in this region. * * * 
At Steubenville it is a very pure, partially open burning coal, 
largely used, when coked, for the manufacture of iron." 

Further on the same report says : 

"At Steubenville numerous shafts have been sunk to Coal No. 
6, and it is extensively worked, both for home consumption and 
for exportation. Several furnaces and rolling mills have been 
located here, and these with the other manufactories, attracted 
by the abundance and excellence of the coal have made Steuben- 
ville the industrial centre of the county, as well as the centre of 
population." 

"The shaft of the Steubenville Furnace & Iron Company, 
known as the Gravel Shaft, is 92 feet deep, the coal is 3 feet 10 
inches thick, and of superior quality. It is coked for use in the 
new furnace of the company, and an analysis of the coke, made 
by Otto Wirth, of Pittsburgh, gave the following for its compo- 
sition : 

Water and hydrogen, - - - 0.72 

Fixed carbon, - - - 90.63 

Sulphur, - - - - - .27 

Ash, .-.--. 8.38 

Total, - - - - 100.00 



17 

"This indicates a quality superior to that of the Connellsville 
coke, in which there is usually i per cent, of sulphur, and 10 to 
14 per cent, of ash." 

It will be noticed that Steubenville raw coal contains less per 
cent, of sulphur than the most celebrated coke of the West. 

The above is the testimony of one set of State officials as to 
the value of Steubenville coal. Equally valuable testimony is 
afforded by the late Mine Inspector Roy, who on pages 46 and 
47 of his annual report for 1874 says : 

"The two mines of the Steubenville Coal & Mining Company, 
at Steubenville, are worked through on each other. The work- 
ings of the old mine, the Market Street shaft, are very extensive, 
and are carred forward on the same system as that prevalent in 
the county of Durham, in England, the other mines of the dis- 
trict being also worked on the same plan, all the mine superin- 
tendents around Steubenville being originally, miners from that 
coal district of England. The Market Street shaft and the Stony 
Hollow shaft are about a mile apart, the former being the down- 
cast and the latter upcast. Both mines are under a thorough 
and perfect system of ventilation. There are no complaints of 
bad air from these mines. The amount of current discharging 
itself at the furnace was measured and summed up thirty-nine 
thousand cubic feet per minute. The air-ways are all large and 
admit of the easy flow of air. 

"There are nine shaft mines in this district, all well ventilated 
and superintended. The coal lies very flat in the ground, admit- 
ting of square and tasteful work." 

On page 8 of the report of 1S75 speaking of the Steubenville 
shafts the same officer says : 

"They range from 180 to 261 feet of perpendicular depth, and 
are the deepest coal mines in the State. A single visit to this dis- 
trict is sufficient to know that they are well and skillfully managed. 
The under ground workings are modeled after those of the New- 
castle district of England — a coal-field in which the art and science 
of coal mining is better understood than in any other coal region 
of the globe. 

"The mines of Steubenville make fire-damp, but so perfect 
are the ventilating arrangements that the gas is diffused through 
the atmospheric air and swept away as rapidly as it is evolved 
from the coal strata, and its presence is seldom seen in any of 



18 

the working places of the miners. The mines are, however, 
examined every morning by a corps of experienced fire-viewers 
before any of the miners are allowed to descend, and nothing is 
left to miscalculation or to accident. Timely and elaborate 
arrangements are made for the creation and maintenance of an 
abundant supply of air to all the ramifications of the mines. The 
furnaces, air passages, upcast and downcast arrangements, all are 
roomy, and bear proper proportion to each other, so that the best 
results are attained. The miners never complain of bad air in 
this district. The underground manager of the Boreland shaft 
reported 46,000 cubic leet of air per minute as circulating through 
the mine, the underground force being less than 100, making a 
column of air of 250 cubic feet per man per minute. 

"The Rolling Mill shaft and the shaft of the O. and P. Coal 
Company have also strong currents of air moving through the 
mine. They were not measured, and so the amount can not be 
given, but it was all-sufficient. The Rolling Mill shaft has a fur- 
nace and the exhaust steam from a No. 6 steam Cameron pump to 
produce rarefaction ; the Furnace Company's shaft exhaust steam 
alone — too weak a power for a large mine — (this was a new open- 
ing, however, and the force of men was small at date of visit); 
the Mining and coal Company a furnace ; the Boreland shaft a 
furnace ; the Bustard shaft a furnace ; the Mingo shaft a furnace; 
La Grange exhaust steam (a new mine); and Rush Run a double 
furnace. All these furnaces were unusually well constructed, and 
the fire constantly maintained. 

"The manager of the Stony Hollow shaft and the Market 
Street shaft has sent me a monthly report of the amount of air 
in circulation. These two mines, belonging to one firm and 
managed by one engineer, are three-fourths of a mile apart, and 
are holed through on each other, one serving as a downcast and 
the other as an upcast shaft. 

"The following is the monthly statement, being equal to 500 
cubic feet per minute per person employed : 

January 65,000 cubic feet per minute. 

February 62,824 '" " 

March 55i94o " " 

April 50,070 " " 

M iv 50,0^0 " " 

June 4^,6jo " " 

July S°.4S6 

August fi^'ST " " 

September 62,090 " " 

October (17.2 12 " " 

November , 68,925 " " 

December 53> 2 So " " 



19 

At page 5 of the report of 1876 we find the following ; 

"I have in former reports alluded to the superior ventilation 
prevailing in this region, surpassing any other district in the 
State. I have never received a single complaint of bad air, but 
all the miners have united in bearing willing testimony to the 
salubrious condition of the mines. Entries and rooms alike are 
well and thoroughly aired, and the moving columns of wind are 
strong and vigorous. There are no strikes in this region ; there 
is no fault finding with the bosses. Many mine owners and bosses 
in other regions curse and traduce their miners for their chronic 
spirit of grumbling and complaining; but when the interiors of 
their mines are examined it is no wonder miners grumble and 
complain. In many of the working places a light will scarcely 
burn, and the miners are enveloped in thick and suffocating clouds 
of smoke. Such mine owners and their bosses, to a man, can see 
no necessity for for a mining law, and regard it as an unwarranted 
interference with their business. 

"The Market Street Mine, one of the oldest of the series of 
shaft openings, has been worked continuously since the pit was 
sunk. The Stony Hollow pit is sunk at the advance workings on 
the north side of the old pit, and the two shafts form one colliery, 
the entries being ten feet wide, the rooms eighteen feet wide, 
the pillars twenty-four feet thick by seventy-five feet long. If gas 
appears in the heads of the rooms before the seventy-five-foot 
pillar is won, an air-crossing is cut, so that there is not always 
regularity as to the length of the pillars. 

"There are five stations in the mine, three on the north side, 
and two on the south side. In these stations, owing to the thin- 
ness of the seam, the hauling mules can not enter the rooms, and 
the cars, which hold twelve bushels each, are pushed out to the 
hauling roads by "putters," three putters being usually employed 
in a station of fourteen or fifteen rooms. The stations where the 
mules haul are located as near the center room as practicable, 
being generally from three to four pillars behind the working 
faces. These centres are moved forward as the workings advance. 
By this arrangement the putting roads are made shorter, and 
have equal men on each side of the mule road. 

"Some years ago a panel or square of work was laid on the 
long-wall system, all the coal being cut away as the workings 
advanced forward, after the usual practice in long-wall mining, 



20 

but the result was deemed unsatisfactory, and the practice was 
abandoned. 

"There is an abundant ventilation prevailing in every division 
of the mine, the amount of air in circulation reaching 50 000 
cubic feet per minute. The air is split at the bottom of the shaft 
into two nearly equal parts, one split going north and the other 
south. The south split is again split into two parts a short dis- 
tance from the bottom of the shaft, one-half going east. Six 
hundred feet ahead the eastern split is again divided, the north- 
ern division ventilating the 'east arm' on the north side of the 
pit; thence it passes to the Stony Hollow pit, traversing a series 
of rooms there, and returns to the upcast The south part of the 
east split travels south, ventilating a series of rooms, then uniting 
with the part it split from, airs the workings on the southwest, 
then moves north to the pillar workings, passing which it returns 
to the upcast at the old pit furnace." 

On page 14 of the report for 1877 this testimony is added : 

The plan of laying out the workings, which prevails at all the 
Steubenville mines, is modeled .after the practice followed in the 
collieries in the north of England. The pillars left in the Eng- 
lish mines are larger and stronger than those in Steubenville, 
because the pits are so much deeper in the Old Country, some of 
them reaching one thousand eight hundred to two thousand five 
hundred feet of perpendicular depth In Steubenville the rooms 
are eighteen feet wide, the walls and cross-cuts twelve feet wide, 
the pillars twenty-four feet in thickness and seventy-two feet in 
length. The walls and rooms cross each other like latitude and 
lo igitude lines, the walls being driven on the butts, and the rooms 
on the face of the coal. The main entries are ten feet wide. The 
miners get seventy-five cents per yard, besides the tonnage price 
for driving entry, but nothing is allowed for wall driving. 

"The mine cars hold twelve and one half to fifteen bushels, 
and are pushed out from the room faces to the stations on the 
hauling roads by putters or pushers. In Boreland's Shaft, Shet- 
land ponies are used instead of putters. These ponies are only 
three feet two inches to three feet six inches high. This mine 
has seven of these hardy and useful animals under ground. In 
the galleries and hauling roads a foot or more of the fire-clay 
floor is taken up to make height for the hauling mules. These 
roads are made five feet two inches high above the rail, and the 



21 

track is laid with 'T' iron. The coal hewers dig and load the 
coal, the deputies laying track and setting props in the rooms. 
Every digger works by candle light, instead of the ordinary 
miner's lamp. The candles are made very small, there being 
twenty to the pound ; they are fastened to the pillar side with a 
piece of soft clay. Three to three and a half of these candles 
are consumed per day by each miner. The candles give less 
light than the miner's lamp, but they make no smoke, and miners 
who are in the habit of using them prefer them to the lamp. The 
deputies and drivers use lamps. 

"In mining the coal, powder is used to knock it down, each 
digger firing three shots per d?y on an average, two in the top 
and one in the bottom coal. The workmen fire at all hours of 
the day; but a few inches of powder suffices for a 'shot,' and not 
more than three pounds of powder per man per week is needed 
for blasting purposes. No blasting is done in the solid coal ; a 
shot is undercut to the depth of four feet, if the miner is a skill- 
ful workman. 

"The mine mules are kept day and night under ground ; the 
stables are hewn out of the solid coal pillars at the bottom of the 
pit, and are dry, well aired, and comfortable. The mules are fed 
at four o'clock in the morning by the fire-viewers. Work com- 
mencing at six o'clock, an hour is allowed at noon for dinner 
and work ceases at five in the evening. 

"The miners are paid every two weeks in cash, and there are 
no store orders forced upon them, as is done in many other 
districts of the State. As the Bustard, the Gravei, the Stony 
Hollow, the Market Street, the Rolling Mill, the Averick, and 
Boreland Shafts are all situated in Steubenville or its immediate 
vicinity, the miners live in town, and a large number of them 
own the houses and lots in which they live, and have, in many 
cases, other property. Fully one-half ol them take daily news- 
papers, though it must be confessed that here, as well as every- 
where else in the Union, not a few spend much of their hard 
earnings in the saloons in soul debasing pleasures." 

More might be added, but it would be superfluous. 

While the coal and iron industries have perhaps felt the 

effects of the panic more than any other yet they do and will 

remain leading factors in the prosperity of the whole country, and 

as they revive and prosper other interests will follow. But the 

4 



22 

time has gone by, if not forever at least for many years when iron 
works can flourish everywhere. All now concede that their loca- 
tion should be at the mouth of the coal pit, avoiding the heavy 
expense for freightage which is now in many cases equal to the 
entire margin of profit. Where there is no freightage for fuel is 
where the iron works of the future are to be. And the same is 
true to a greater or less extent of other manufactures. Steuben- 
ville is so situated as to place her manufactories at the mouth of 
the pit, and that tells the whole story in a nutshell. 



Other Minerals. 



Although coal is of course the the leading mineral of this 
locality, it is by no means the only one which abounds in paying 
quantities. The supply of building stone is inexhaustible, while 
limestone, fire clay, iron ore, brick clay and chemical matters all 
abound. 

The first mentioned is the most important and consists mostly 
of a light colored sandstone which becomes somewhat darker by 
exposure to the air, and which is as durable as the hills themselves. 
There are four leading sandstone quarries opened in our vicinity, 
known as Speaker's, Bustard's, Schwartz's and Spencer's, of good 
quality susceptible of ruled cranelled, drafted, pinked or pitched 
ashler. Other quarries are found on both sides of the river. 
Samples can be be seen in the City Engineer's Office or in the 
partial construction of the county buildings, new St. Paul's 
Church, Pan-Handle Railroad bridge, Post Office, Dougherty 
block, Sherrard & Mooney's bank, Jefferson Insurance, and many 
other of our most valuable buildings. In many cases where it 
has been exposed to the weather for years, the marks of the cut- 
ter's tools are as sharp as when first made. The quarries named 
are on the Ohio side of the river and within or just outside the 
city limits, and on the opposite side of the river there are supplies 
rivaling these, which can be floated over at comparatively trifling 
expense. A brown sandstone is also found in the neighborhood, 
although it is not so plentiful as the other. 

Limestone also plentifully abounds, and although little of it is 
suitable for building purposes, yet it is largely used in the manu- 



facture of lime, and as flux in blast furnaces. Steubenville lime 
presents a remarkable freedom from magnesia, and on this account 
is superior for cementing purposes, especially in locations exposed 
to the weather. 

As to fire clay it is beneath and all around us, overlying and 
underlying the coal seams. The supply in the shafts is inexhausti- 
ble, but as yet it has been but little worked on account of the 
cheaper method of running banks into the sides of the hills, by 
which means a few miles north of town, an enormous trade has 
been built up in the line of terra cotta, fire brick, tiling, sewer 
pipe, etc., both sides of the river being lined for a long distance 
with the extensive manufactories devoted to this purpose. 

Within six and eight miles of the city have been found excel- 
lent beds of iron ore, which have been tested by analysis and 
actual use and found to be of sufficient purity for commercial 
purposes. Pockets of hematite yield 50 to 60 per cent, of iron, 
and a two-foot vein of grey ore is also found. When the Island 
Creek narrow gauge, more fully referred to elsewhere, is com- 
pleted, these ores can be put down in the city at a trifling cost, 
and even if they do not come into profitable use at once are a 
sure guarantee of protection against a material advance in Mis- 
souri or Lake Superior ores, whether that advance result from in- 
creased cost of transportation or stronger demand at the mines. 
As intimated, this ore has been tested in one of the furnaces here 
with good results. 

The common brick clay burns readily into a good common 
red brick, strong ar.d durable, and from it pressed bricks are also 
made, of excellent color and finish. 

Mineral springs abound convenient to the city, containing 
solutions of alum, iron and other substances, and it is not im- 
possible that a closer examination of their qualities might result 
in proving them of economic value. 

Clean, sharp sand, suitable for building is found in abundance 
within the city limits, and also along the river, where it is easily 
gathered up and boated to town. 

Although natural gas cannot be classed as a "mineral" yet as 
it is a product manufactured by Nature in the bowels of the earth, 
a reference to it here will not be out of place. It is found in our 
coal mines as already intimated, and has in some cases been con- 
ducted through pipes to the upper air, where it burns freely. No 



24 

attempt has been made in the city to convert it to any practical 
use except giving light at night, but twelve miles above town 
large manufactories of fire brick and tiling are run by this agency. 

Petroleum has been found within twenty-eight miles of the 
city on the north, and also east and west, but none has yet been 
found near town. 

Salt wells have been operated in the neighborhood in the 
early years, and this may again become a live industry at a future 
day. 



Commercial Facilities. 



Steubenville's commercial facilities, both by water and rail, 
are excelled by few interior cities. First and foremost the Ohio 
river washes its entire front, navigable from this point south- 
wardly, the direction in which we seek our markets and from 
which much of our raw material comes, the greater part of the 
year. As this article is being written the river is at what is consid- 
ered the low stage, and Pittsburgh and the towns above are com- 
pletely isolated so far as water navigation is concerned. Yet a 
light draught packet leaves here every morning for below, making 
through water connections with all points in the South and West, 
thus for all practical purposes constituting Steubenville for the 
time being the head of navigation. The advantages to our 
manufacturers of being able to use this great natural highway 
after it has been closed above are apparent. The peculiar bene- 
fits arising from Steubenville's particular location in regard to 
river and rail have already attracted the attention of capitalists, 
and a large water frontage has been purchased opposite the city 
with the expectation of building at an early day, extensive coal 
chutes and transporting coal from points even adjacent to Pitts- 
burgh thither via the Pan-Handle railroad and here loading it 
into barges. A very large proportion of all the coal lost in trans- 
portation down the Ohio is lost between here and Pittsburgh, and 
by having the chutes and bringing the coal down in the manner 
referred to above, not only is twenty-four hours time saved on 
every rise, a very important item, but the dangers arising from 
the bars, bridges and other obstructions between here and Pitts- 



25 

burgh, upon which so many barges have been grounded or wrecked, 
are avoided. The erection of these chutes is onl)' a question of 
time, and it will at once make this city the great head of coal nav- 
igation the year round. The harbor here is broad and deep, and 
able to accommodate a large fleet of boats at all stages of water. 
On the Ohio side of the river is an admirable ice harbor, formed 
by the protecting piers of the Pan-Handle railroad bridge, which 
break up the large cakes of ice into fragments as they come down, 
and the current throws their weight largely to the opposite side 
of the river. It is estimated that the cost of shipping coal from 
Pittsburgh to Louisville is one and three-fourth cents per bushel, 
and for reasons previously referred to it is safe to say that at least 
the fractional three-fourths is expended before the barges reach 
Steubenville, and hence the advantage in shipping from here to 
lower ports is obvious. 

Outside of coal the advantages of the river as a means of 
transportation have not been neglected. During the regular 
boating season in addition to the daily morning packet to Wheel- 
ing making through connections, there is an additional boat for 
the latter point and below on Monday, Wednesday and Friday 
evenings, a through packet for Cincinnati the same evenings and 
also on Sunday. There is a regular Sunday boat for Pittsburgh 
and two boats on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. In addition 
to the above there are weekly packets each way to and from St. 
Louis, and numerous transient steamers for points on the upper 
and lower Mississippi, the Yellowstone and the Far West. With 
such competition river freights are necessarily low, and shippers 
have the opportunity of making most favorable terms. 

As to railroads the city is also well located, and the traveler 
can leave town in five different directions by rail, with the pros- 
pect in the near future of a sixth. 

The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway, or the great 
Pan-Handle route, is of course the leading outlet, and the first es- 
tabment of this road which reaches out to and connects with lines 
extending across the continent, is due to Steubenville money, 
energy and enterprise. Its original nucleos, the Steubenville & 
Indiana railroad was incorporated February 24th, 1848, by James 
Wilson, James Means, Nathaniel Dike, William McDonald, 
Daniel A. Collier, John Orr, John Andrews, David McGowan, 
James Gallagher, James McKinney, Roswell Marsh, James Turn- 



26 

bull and Alexander Doyle. It was opened in 1853 after severe 
financial struggles and an expenditure of no less than $300,000 on 
the part of this township and city through its public officials and 
private citizens, for which, except in the way of general advantages 
to the community not a dollar was ever realized to the original sub- 
scribers. A few years after the opening of this road, work on the 
Steubenville & Pittsburgh road was begun, which ended in the 
completion here of the first railroad bridge over the Ohio in 
1865. Shortly after that the two roads were consolidated under 
the name of the Pittsburgh Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway, 
which as stated above, is one of the great trunk lines of the 
country, and by its connections all points east and west can be 
reached. To merely recite a list of its connecting lines would take 
up more space than we have at command 

The extension of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh railroad to this 
city was made in the fall of 1856, which on the south connects 
with the Baltimore & Ohio railroad for the East, and the Central 
Ohio for the West. It also connects with the Pittsburgh, Ft. 
Wayne & Chicago, Atlantic & Great Western and other roads, 
and is as nearly an air line to the lakes as can be made. 

The Pittsburgh, Wheeling & Kentucky road connecting this 
city with Wheeling, was completed two years ago, and does a 
profitable business. It has direct connection at its southern ter- 
minus with the B. & O. road, and being under the management 
of P., C. & St. L. company its trains cross on their bridge, and 
arrive and depart from the Pan-Handle depot near the centre of 
the city. 

A third railroad enterprise is now under way and is being 
pushed vigorously towards completion, being a narrow gauge road 
from Richmond in this county to the city, with the ultimate idea 
of extending it from Richmond to Youngstown and connecting 
with the narrow gauge system which is destined at no distant day 
to extend across the country from east to west. The grading is 
now about completed from Richmond to where the road strikes 
the river six miles above Steubenville, and before a great while 
this much is expected to be in operation. The hills along the 
route are filled with valuable minerals and abound in growing 
timber, and the agricultural wealth along the line gives promise 
of a paying business from the start. 

An illustration of our railroad facilities is afforded by the cir- 



27 

cumstance that a traveler for Pittsburgh and the East has no less 
than seven passenger trains daily from which to choose the one 
which best suits his time and convenience. During the late rail- 
road war freight was shipped to Cleveland at the rate of two cents 
per hundred pounds, and to Chicago for six cents, while manu. 
facturers up the river on a certain occasion have offered in conse- 
quence of only having a few miles of transportation, to deliver 
fire brick, fire clay, stoneware, sewer or water pipe, flue linings, 
paving tile and roofing tile in the city at from 15 to 20 per cent, 
lower than any other inland city in the State of Ohio. The Pan- 
Handle railroad this summer has had thousands of ties cut in the 
mountains of West Virginia delivered at the wharf in this city as 
the most convenient and eligible place, and from which they 
could be taken to their ultimate destination most economically, 
while with each spring freshet rafts containing thousands of feet 
of lumber and sawlogs without end are floated to cur wharves 
from the Allegheny mountains at merely nominal cost, thus giving 
our builders the advantages of competition, and choice between 
that and lumber brought by lake and rail from the Northwest. 

These are a few of the advantages Steubenville enjoys in a 
commercial point of view, and they are such as to commend 
themselves to the attention of every careful business man. 



Schools and Education. 



Not of less importance to a man of family than the providing 
of his offspring with the material comforts of life is the opportu- 
nity afforded to educate his children. In this age of the world a 
young man or girl without an education must always remain near 
the bottom of the ladder, even though their qualities may be of 
the highest order in many respects. Education then is a matter 
of primal importance, and so the pioneers of our State and city 
evidently thought, for they early laid the foundations on which to 
build the superstructure of our common schools and higher insti- 
tutions, and for over half a century has their work stood the test. 

The oldest educational institution in the city and one of the 
oldest in the West, is the Steubenville Female Seminary, opened 
by Rev. Dr. C. C. Beatty, on April 13th, 1829, more than fifty 



28 

years ago. For awhile the school was held in Dr. Beatty's own 
residence on the west side of High street between Market and 
Adams. It soon outgrew these limited accommodations, and a 
site occupying an entire block bounded by High, Water, Adams 
and South streets having been selected a suitable building was 
constructed thereon the same year. The buildings were in time 
increased to such an extent that they now fill almost the entire 
west boundary of the Seminary grounds. In 1833 the first grad- 
uates received their diplomas, the advance guard of an army of 
over 4,500 who have gone forth from these venerable halls, and 
have scattered themselves around the whole circle of the earth, 
many of them rising to positions of influence, some of them as 
missionaries, and others acting an important part in the world's 
great drama. Rev. A. M. Reid, the present Principal and Pro- 
prietor of the school has been with it for nearly a quarter of a 
century, and for many years he and his wife have had entire 
charge of the same, the advancing years and feeble health of its 
venerable founder having long withdrawn him from any but a 
nominal connection with the institution. The Seminary is con- 
ducted under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church, but child- 
ren of all denominations find a home within its hospitable walls. 
The grounds are laid off in tasteful style, and leafy trees and 
falling waters of the fountain make the place one of cooling 
delight, especially, on a warm summer's afternoon. The build- 
ings themselves are roomy and comfortable, and the school room 
is airy, light and pleasant. A large library, complete and excel- 
lent chemical and philosophical apparatus, and collections of 
specimens in the line of geology, ethnology and natural history, 
furnish ample materials for interesting object lessons, and the 
varied and beautiful articles gathered up in different trips to the 
old world, and which may be found in every part of the building, 
make it a place of rare attractions, A well fitted up gymnasium 
is at hand to aid in healthy bodily development. One of the 
late additions to the institution is a preparatory school, with 
features of the Kindergarten system, for the little ones, which 
has met with marked success. At the close of the last term 139 
scholars were enrolled, from all parts of the country, under a 
corps of officers and instructors numbering fifteen, teaching all 
the branches to be found in a first-class educational institution for 
young ladies. The course of study is divided into four years, 



29 

Primary, Middle, Junior and Senior, and under its present man- 
agement the school gives promise of a lengthy career of increased 
usefullness and honor. 

But it is not especially in private institutions, however popu- 
lar or efficient, that our municipality prides itself. It is in the 
people's schools, where the children of the State are educated 
without money and without price. For over forty years they 
have been in operation, moulding the intellects of at least two 
generations. The first Board of Education, consisting of three 
persons, Dr. C C. Beatty, Dr. John Andrews and James Means, was 
organized in 1838, making the beginning of the public school 
system in this city. In 1839 two buildings, then deemed com- 
modious, were erected for school purposes, one on upper Fourth 
street, and the other on lower Fourth, at a cost of $4,000, and 
were occupied in November of that year. These with rented 
rooms accommodated the city youth until 1858, when a material 
addition was made to school facilities by the purchase of "Grove 
Academy," a spacious building which had been previously occu- 
pied as a school for young men, by Rev. Dr. John Scott, at a cost 
of $5,000. Within ten years the growth of the city compelled 
the further enlargement of accommodations, the end of which 
was the erection of a large new building on the corner of Fourth 
and South streets, which was completed on April 1st, 1870, at a 
cost, including furniture, of $60,000. The building is four 
stories in height besides the attic, and is a massive structure 
containing twelve school rooms with accommodations for 800 
pupils, and is provided with a large number of class rooms. It 
is heated throughout with steam, and lighted by gas, and contains 
all the modern improvements. The High School is located in 
this building and has a complete chemical and philosophical 
apparatus, with a library of reference. The demand for room 
still increasing, by a vote of the people a new and more commo- 
dious building was ordered on the corner of Fourth and Dock 
streets. This was completed in 1873, an d is a fine structure of 
pressed brick, constructed in a pleasing style of architecture, and 
surrounded by tasteful and well kept grounds. It is three stories 
in height including the basement, and contains twelve school 
rooms with accommodations for 700 pupils. The colored school 
on North Third street is a neat two-story brick building capable 
of accommodating 160 pupils. In the Sixth Ward are two good 

5 



30 

buildings, a frame of three rooms in what is known as the rolling 
mill district, with accommodations for 160 scholars, and a two- 
story brick in the Fisher district with room for 120 scholars. 
In the western part of the Third Ward, or "Jacksonville," is a 
frame schoolhouse holding 60 pupils, for the accommodation of 
the people of that section. The appearance of our schoolhouses 
has attracted the attention of strangers, and no care is avoided to 
make the instruction given correspond to the outside impression. 
The course of study in the primary and intermediate departments 
is of the most approved kind, and the highest educational skill 
is utilized to bring out every dormant faculty of the pupil. To 
give a full list of the studies pursued would occupy too much 
space, but a glance at the High School curriculum will give an 
idea of the standard which prevails in that department. 

At the beginning of the school year each pupil is expected to 
select one of three courses of study, the English, and German, 
or the Classical, and to adhere to it throughout the year. 
Greek is optional; a class will be formed, if it is desired, at the 
beginning of the school year. 

C CLASS. 



ex<;lish course. 

English Grammar. 

Higher Algebra. 

Higher Arithmetic. 

Physiology. 

Physical Geography, or 

Book Keeping. 

Botany. 



CLASSICAL COURSE. 

Higher Algebra. 

Higher Arithmetic. 

Physiology. 

Physical Geography, or 

Book Keeping, 

Latin Grammar. 

Latin Reader. 



B CLASS. 



Higher Algebra. 
Geometry. 
General History. 
Rhetoric, and 
American Literature. 
Natural Philosophy. 



Higher Algebra. 

Geometry. 

Caesar. 

Rhetoric, and 

American Literature. 

Natural Philosophy, or 

Greek Grammar. 



31 
A CLASS. 

ENGLISH COURSE. CLASSICAL COURSE. 

Trigonometry. Trigonometry. 

Astronomy. Astronomy. 

Chemistry. Chemistry, or 

English Literature. Greek Reader. 

U. S. Constitution. U. S. Constitution. 

Moral Philosophy. Cicero. 

Review of Arithmetic, Virgil. 

Geography and Grammar. Latin Composition. 

German is also one of the optional studies not only in the 
High but in the Grammar schools, and during the last term this 
department embraced 159 pupils, under charge of Mr. Otto 
Fuchs. Music is also taught during a portion of the time, with 
the usual literary exercises. The High School was opened in 
1855, and the first pupil graduated in i860, and from the ever 
widening stream which since then has poured forth in uninter- 
rupted flow, has been supplied first class educational talent 
not only for the Steubenville schools, but elsewhere. Such has 
been the reputation of the schools that there has always been 
a larger or smaller number attending from abroad, the tuition 
fees for non-resident pupils being as follows : 

Primary School, per month, - - $1.00 

Grammar " " " - - 2 00 

High « " - 3.50 

The Superintendent for the past nine years has been Prof. M. 
R. Andrews, under whose management they were brought to the 
highest state of efficiency possible, but he accepting a position 
in one of our Ohio colleges, Prof. Mertz, of Wheeling, suc- 
ceeds, who comes with the highest recommendations, and under 
whose charge there is every reason to suppose that the previous 
reputation of the schools will be fully sustained. He takes charge 
at the opening of the next term. Following is a list of the differ- 
ent schools in the city now in operation with the teachers for the 
coming term, and the number of pupils in each for the term just 
closed : 



32 



ROOM. 

High School, 



Grammar, A & B, 



i < 


c, 


a 


D, 


t i 


D, 


No. 7, 




No. 6, 




No. 5: 




No. 4 , 




Nos. I, 2 


and 3, 


No. 3, 
No. 2, 




No. i, ist 


Div., 


NO. I, 2(1 




Grammar, 




.< 


A cS: B, 


C i 


c, 


" 


c, 


'" 


D, 


No. 6, 




No. 6, 




No. 5 , 




No. 4, 




No. 3, 
No. 2, 




No. I, TSt 


Div., 


No. i, 2d 


(t 


Grammar, 
Primary, 




Principal, 
i st Primary, 
2d 



SOUTH SCHOOL. 

TEACHER. 

A. M. Rowe, 

M. W. Sutherland, ist Asst. 

Annie E. Gilmore, 2d Asst. 

Elvira O'Neale, 

Lizzie Neill, Asst. 

Rebecca Hull, 

Mallie Clemens, 

Mollie McCauslen, Asst. 

Dora Cochran, 

Rachel McCarel, 

Lizzie M. Neill, 

V. F. Saunders, 

Mrs. Anna H. DeVoir. 

Louisa Draper, Asst., , 

Nettie Kendall, Asst., 

Jennie Crewson, Asst., 

Martha Sutherland, Asst.. 

NORTH SCHOOL. 
D. W. Matlack. 
Sallie P. Kells, Asst., 
Anna Moncrief, ist Asst., 
Nannie Hays, 2d Asst., 
Dessa Moreland, 
Anna Cox, 
Anna Moore, 
Anna D. Dohrman, 
Julia C. Linn, 
Angie S. Hall, 
Dora J. Evans, 
Nellie McCauslen, 
Sarah F. Brown, 

COLORED. 
Mary Hill, { 
David S. Bruce, j 

ROLLING MILL. 
Martha J. Leslie, 
Lizzie Parrish, 
Libbie Dunsan, 



NO. PUPILS. 

116 



67 



45 
7i 

5 2 
58 
47 
59 



49 

60 
86 



98 
47 
52 
54 
58 
55 
63 
64 
61 

5i 
73 
7i 



156 



33 

FISHER'S. 

Principal, W. H. Garrett, ) 

Primary, Mrs. Garrett, j " - ' I 3° 

JACKSONVILLE. 

Primary & Inter., A. F. Matlack, 35 



Total enrolled, . . . . . . . 1,917 

The first school superintendent was Thomas F. McGrew who 
was followed by W. J. Sage, J. N. Dessellem, Eli T. Tappan, 
Joseph Buchanan, M. R. Andrews and H. N. Mertz. The corps 
of teachers including the Superintendent now numbers forty. 

Our school houses are all paid for, and notwithstanding the 
liberal expenditures for school purposes, taxes as will be seen 
further on, are light. The city paid in teachers' salaries last year 
the sum of $20,235.11. 

In addition to the schools already enumerated, in 1868 Rev. 
W. T. Bigelow, pastor of St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, 
founded the schools connected with that parish. These schools, 
which occupy five rooms in the basement of the church, lately 
closed their term with an enrollment of over 300 scholars. They 
are conducted by Sisters of Charity under the supervision of the 
pastor of the congregation, and have attained a deserved reputa- 
tion for efficiency and scholarship. 

The last school census taken in September, 1878, gave the 
following as the number of persons in the city between the age 
of 6 and 21 : 

First Ward, 
Second " 
Third " 
Fourth " 
Fifth » 
Sixth " 

Total, - - 2,261 2,337 4,598 

Of these about 2,400 are enrolled in the different schools, and 
as even those who pass through the High School course graduate 
a considerable length of time before reaching twenty-one, while 
many stop with the first year of the course or even at the end of 



IALE. 


FEMALE. 


TOTAL. 


388 


382 


770 


465 


535 


1,000 


400 


448 


848 


362 


347 


709 


322 


306 


626 


3 2 4 


321 


645 



34 

the Grammar school it will be seen that taking out invalids, those 
at school elsewhere, at work and left off the enrollment for good 
and sufficient causes, the proportion left in idleness is perhaps as 
small as any other place where compulsory education does not 
exist. 

In times past good private schoools have flourished in the city, 
but the excellence of our public schools has drawn so largely on 
them the last few years, that with the exceptions above enumera- 
ted they have mostly passed out of existence. All classes attend 
our public schools, and children there are thrown in the best 
society. 



Churches and Religion. 



The spiritual needs of the city are at present fully supplied ; it 
having no less than 20 churches and chapels which is an average 
of one for about each 700 people. Nearly all the different con- 
gregations have substantial and handsome places of worship erected 
and paid for, and their financial as well as their spiritual condi- 
tion is probably as good as any similar collection of religious 
societies elsewhere. A short sketch of each is all that we have 
room for. 

The oldest organized religious society in Steubenville is the 
First Presbyterian Church which dates its autonomy back to the 
year 1801, preaching, previous to that time, having been had by 
such traveling divines as happened to be in the vicinity. Their 
first place of edifice was erected in 1803-4, a small brick building, 
located on what is now the site of the Old Presbyterian Church 
on South Fourth street near Adams. This served its purpose 
until 1 (Si 7 when a much larger structure, two stories in height 
and having galleries running around the interior, took its place, 
and was used by the congregation until 1872. Previous to that date 
the congregation had felt the need of a larger and better build- 
ing, and as a result there was completed in August of that year 
the large and commodious structure on North Fuurth street, at a 
cost, with the ground of about $73,000. This building is of 
brick, with stone front, 160 feet in length by 47 feet 10 inches 
wide at the front and 80 feet at the rear. The south tower is 158 



feet high, and the church has sittings for 1,100 people. It is of 
the Elizabethan style of architecture with the peak ot the roof 
running up to a height of 81 feet from the ground, and hand- 
somely fitted up with stained glass windows, etc. Five of the 
windows are memorials to Rev. Drs. Snodgrass, Jennings, Beatty, 
Comingo and Woods. At the rear of the church is the chapel 
of two stories, containing Sunday School room of 58x38 feet, 
pastor's study, etc. Rev. Obadiah Jennings was the first pastor 
retained exclusively by the congregation, who ministered until 
1823, when he was succeeded by .Rev. Dr. C. C. Beatty, the 
latter being relieved at bis own request in 1835, and succeeded 
by Rev. Henry C. Comingo in 1837, who died during his 
pastorate. Rev. Henry Woods took charge in 1861, and Rev. 
T. A. McCurdy in 1868. The latter resigned in 1875 to accept 
a call to Wooster, Ohio, and was succeeded by Rev. Dr. Wm. 
Grimes, the sixth pastor and present incumbent, under whose 
administration the congregation is in a flourishing condition. 

The Second Presbyterian Church became a separate organiza- 
tion on January 1st, 1838, with Rev. Joseph Chambers as the 
first pastor. Their first house of worship was the building used 
by the Christian congregation on North Fourth street, which 
they occupied until June, 187 1, when they removed to their new 
building then completed on the corner of Fourth and Washing- 
ton streets. It is a handsome structure of pressed brick with 
stone trimmings, costing over $43,000 and with a spire 160 feet 
high. It has a seating capacity of 600. Three of the windows 
in this church are memorials, they being to Rev. Mr. Chambers, 
D. L. Collier and ;Mrs. S. F, Beatty. A commodious chapel 
joins the church in the rear, and a comfortable parsonage is the 
property of the congregation. There have been seven pastors of 
this church, the first being Dr. Beatty in 1844, and Rev. Wm. 
P. Breed in 1847, who were followed by Rev. Henry B. Chapin, 
J. B. Patterson, David R. Campbell, J. A. Worden and W. W. 
McLane, the last named being still in charge. A mission chapel 
in the Fifth Ward to which there is attached a flourishing Sunday 
School is under charge of this congregation. 

The former site of the First Presbyterian Church is occupied by 
theOld Presbyterian congregation, being formed in 1872 primarily 
by those who desired keeping up an organization south of Market 
street. Rev. T. V. Milligan was their first pastor, and he was 



36 

succeeded by Rev. G. N. Johnson, the present incumbent. The 
old building left by the First congregation was used until 1877 
when a new brick structure was erected, capable of seating 450 
persons. 

Rev. George Buchanan seems to have been the founder of the 
United Presbyterian congregation in 1809. He was ordained in 
181 1, and had charge of the churches at Steubenville, Yellow 
Creek and Paris, Pa. Services were at first held in the Court 
House, and afterwards in a schoolhouse on the site of what is 
now the Christian Church. In 181 7 a church was erected on the 
corner of Fifth and North streets which was replaced by a larger 
building in 1838, which with an extension made in 1859 is still 
in use, seating about 400 persons. A good brick parsonage 
stands on the same lot. Mr. Buchanan was succeeded in the pas- 
torate by Rev. J. K. Andrews in 1857, who in turn was succeeded 
J. M. Clokey in 1864, T. J. Kennedy in 1870, S. J. Stewart in 
1 874, ar) d W. S. Owens, the present incumbent in 1877. 

The Methodists were also early in the field here, and for sev- 
eral years previous to 1801, when the first society was formed, 
occasional services had been held. In that year William Lamb- 
din organized what afterwards became Kramer Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, and a lot having been given them by Bezaleel Wells, 
Esq., a building was erected, which with enlargements stood for 
fifty years. At that time Steubenville was in the West Wheeling 
circuit and was connected with the Ohio Conference, which met 
here in 1813 and also in 1818 It became a station in 1S19 with 
Cornelius Springer the first preacher. Two years after the church 
was enlarged by adding to it two arms, which made it the shape 
of the cross, and gave to it the appellation of "The Old Ship." 
This was at last found unsuitable, and in 1854-5 it was replaced 
by the structure now standing, although since enlarged and beau- 
tified. It is a commodious structure and will seat 500 persons. 
The successors of Mr. Springer in the pastorate have been Curtis 
Goddard, John Waterman, James McMahon, Henry B. (after- 
wards Bishop) Bascom, Win. Stephens, Joshua Monroe, George 
Brown, Thomas M. Hudson, Homer J. Clark, Robert Boyd, 
Charles Thorn, J. C. Merryman, Edward II. Taylor, George L. 
Holmes, Samuel E. Babcock, L. R. Brockunier, A. M. Brown, 
C. D. Battelle, Franklyn Moore, M. McCleary, A. H. Thomas, 
C. A. Holmes. I. C. Pershing, S. P. Wolf, W. A. Davidson, L. 



37 

F. Minor, J. J. Higgins, Wm Cooper, E. Hingely, John E. Wil- 
liams, J. S. Bracken, J. R. Mills and D. C. Osborne, D. D, who 
still fills the pulpit. A comfortable parsonage stands on the 
opposite side of the street from the church. 

Hamline M. E. Church on the corner of Fourth and North 
streets, is an offshoot from Kramer, and was built in 1844 at a 
cost of #5,000. It continued in charge of the old congregation 
until near the close of 1854, when it became an independent 
body. Since then it has been greatly improved and a handsome 
parsonage built. The building will seat 400 people, and the 
pastors have been Rev. E. G. Nicholson, followed by J. B. Dun- 
lop, A. J. Rich, J. A. Swaney J. D. Cramer, A. L. Petty, S. 
Baker, D. A. McCready, B. McMahon, E. Barker, T. N. Boyle, 
S. B. Wolf, H. L. Chapman, J. N. Baker, I. A. Pearce and G. 
W. Gray. 

On Fourth street extension in the Sixth Ward stands Finley 
Chapel, a neat brick structure, seating some 350 people, which 
was built in 1868 at a cost of about #4,000. Its pastors have been 
Revs. J. R. Keys, W. B. Grace, D. H. Snowden, J H, Eky, G. 
W. Gruber, A Appleton and J M. Bray. 

Thomson Chapel in the rolling mill district of the Sixth Ward, 
is about the same size as Finley and was also erected in 1868. It 
is a neat frame structure and cost about $3,000. The list of pas- 
tors is made up of Revs. W. B. Grace, L. H. Cravens, W. Brown, 
J. Q. A. Miller, S. W. Stewart, A. J. Lane, and I. K. Rader. A 
frame mission chapel was erected in the Fifth Ward by this 
denomination in 1871, but it has never grown into a society. 

The Methodist Protestant Church on South Fifth street dates 
its organization back to 1830, when ninty-three members with- 
drew from the Methodist Episcopal Church and formed a sepa- 
rate organization under the leadership of Rev. George Brown. 
A site for a building was purchased, and a building put up at a 
cost of $4,000, the congregation worshipping meanwhile in the 
Court House and elsewhere. This building stood until 1853, 
when a new and larger one, holding nearly 500 persons, took its 
place, and is still standing. The pastors have been Revs. Robert 
C. Hutton, E. Woodward, B. W. Johnson, John Elliott, W. W. 
Arnett, John Burns, J. Dalby, Z. Ragan, E. S. Wayland, Robert 
Andrew, J. W. Case, J. H. Hamilton, F A. Davis, Wm. Collier, 
Ambrose Abbott, J. C. Ogle, G. W. Hissey, J. W. Baker, John 
6 



38 

Cowl and O. V. W. Chandler. The church has been overhauled 
and improved the present season, and the society is in a flourish- 
ing condition, an excellent choir being one of the features of the 
organization. 

Latimer Chapel located on the corner of Sixth and Slack 
streets belongs to the Primitive Methodists, who organized a 
society in 1869, their new building being occupied the following 
year. It holds about 300 people. Following is the list of pastors 
since organization ■ Revs. G. Parker, W. B. Beach, L O. Beach, 
J. W. Reed, Mr. Batch, R. Fothergill and John Mason. They 
have no pastor at present. 

The colored people have two church organizations in Steu- 
benville. The oldest is known as the African M. E. Church, and 
organized as early as 1823. A brick church was built on the 
corner of Third and South streets which stood until 1874 when 
it was torn down, A new building was proposed to be erected 
in its place, but the plan was changed and a house and lot pur- 
chased on the corner of Fifth and Washington streets, the lower 
part of which is used for religious services, and the upper for a 
parsonage. The pastors have been Rev. M. Freeman, Jeremiah 
Miller, Noah C, Cannon, James Gray, George Bowler, Austin 
Jones, George Coleman, Turner Roberts, Charleston, Fiatt Davis, 
George Coleman, Thomas Lawrence, Wm. Newman, Charles 
Peters, S, H. Thompson, Jeremiah Bowman, Sunrise, John Ridg- 
way, Leaven Gross, Alexander Austin, Nelson Carter, James 
Stewart, S. H. Thomson, Wm. Ralph, M. M. Smith, S. T. Jones, 
John Gibbons, S. H. Thompson, (third time) Revs. Ralph, 
Burrs, Lowry and D. N. Mason. 

A separate congregation from the A. M. E. Church was formed 
in 1876. The following year a frame building seating about 300 
people was erected on North Sixth street, which is still in use. 
The pastors of this congregation have been Revs, Posey, Carr and 
Bougher, the last named still in charge. 

When the first services of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
were held in Steubenville is uncertain, but at all events seem to 
have been only at intervals at the first, and afterwards with mere 
regularity by the son of Rt. Rev, Philander Chase, Bishop of 
Ohio, the young man being then a missionary in these parts. On 
May 17th, 1 819, a meeting was held, and the parish of St. Paul's 
Church formally organized. Rev. Intrepid Morse was ealled to 



39 

the Rectorship, holding that office until 1865, the long period of 
forty-six years. He was succeeded by Rev. Charles Gillette, who 
remained here until 1867 when he removed to New York to 
accept the position of Secretary of the Freedman's Commission 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The next rector was Rev, 
Andrew Hull who filled the office from 1868 to 1871 when he re- 
signed to take charge of a church in Vermont. Rev, Thomas D. 
Pitts succeeded him in March, 1872, and still remains in charge of 
the congregation, thus making the fourth since the organization of 
the parish over sixty years ago. In the beginning services were 
held in the Court House, a room over the old Market House used 
as a Council chamber, and in the building known as the Academy 
on South High street. In 1830 steps were taken for the erection 
of a church, and on July 9th, 1832 the corner stone of a building 
on the corner of Fourth and Adams streets was laid with appro- 
priate ceremonies, it being consecrated on December 8th, 1833. 
This building with some enlargements and improvements stood 
until the spring of the present year, when having become illy 
adapted to meet the increased needs of the congregation it was 
torn down to make room for the larger and more elegant struc- 
ture previously determined on. The corner stone of the latter 
was laid on May 20th, and it will be ready for occupancy the 
coming fall. It is a beautiful stone building, low gothic and will 
make a very decided addition to the architectural attractions of 
the place. The structure is built throughout of Ohio sandstone, 
found in the neighborhood, and is the work of home contractors 
and mechanics. It gives the impression of solidity and bold and 
striking outlines, and the absence of anything like shams. The 
building is about 118 feet long with an extreme width of 60 feet 
2^ inches, and a height of 50 feet. The nave is 85^x43^3 feet 
in the clear, and the apsidal chancel 23x26. The tower at the 
east end measures 122 feet to the top of the cross, and is most 
symmetrically proportioned. The church is intended to seat 500 
persons comfortably, but this can be increased one or two hun- 
dred if necessary. It will contain a number of handsome memo- 
rial windows, and the font, the gift of Mr. W, L. Archer, is prob- 
ably the finest piece of stone carving in this section of the coun- 
try. The parish is also the owner of fine rectory on South Fifth 
street. 

St. Peter's Roman Catholic Congregation was organized about 



40 

the year 1832, and under the administration of Rev. Father Mc- 
Creedy a church was erected on the corner of Fourth and Logan 
streets during that year, the land being donated by James Ross, 
of Pittsburgh. Father James Conlan took charge in 1834, and 
was succeeded by Father J. F. Kearney in 1845, T. O. Farrell 
in 1847, E. Thienpont in 1850, W. T. Bigelow in 1865, 
and T. M. Tuomy in 1872, Jeremiah Murray, H. B. Dues, B. 
Wiseman and M. M. A, Hartnedy, who still remains. A move 
towards a new building was made in 1853 and on Palm Sunday, 
1855 the present building was consecrated, which was enlarged 
by the addition of 40 feet to its length in 1869. It is now a large 
and commodious two story brick building 120x45 feet in the 
clear, and with a seating capacity of 1,000 persons. The house 
occupied by the sisters of charily adjoins it on the south, and the 
building is filled on all Sundays and holy days with large and 
attentive congregations. 

The Christian Church on North Fourth street traces its origin 
back to Alexander Campbell who among his early labors founded 
a congregation at Steubenville, but the first authentic records of 
the society are dated in 1841, when the small brick church was 
built on Dock street between F ourth and Fifth, which was occu- 
pied for thirty years when it was sold and the Second Presbyter- 
ian Church building on Fourth street above Washington purchased 
for $8,000, the Presbyterians moving at that time to their new 
building at the corner of Fourth and Washington streets. The 
congregation passed through many trials, and cannot be said to 
have attained a permanency until 1865 when Elder J. White 
became pastor, and remained in charge for two years, and did a 
good work which was continued by Elders L. Southmayed, A. 
Walden, W. H. Blanks and A. H. Carter. The present church 
will seat about 500 people, and has a baptistery back of the pulpit 
where the ordinance of baptism can be administered in full view 
of the congregation. 

The German Lutheran Evangelical Church was regularly 
organized in 1862, services having been previously held in the 
Presbyterian Churches. A neat brick building capable of seating 
300 persons was erected on North Fifth street at a cost of $3,600, 
a parsonage being added two years later, and the church build- 
ing itself being improved and enlarged by the addition of an 
organ gallery in 1870. Rev. George Pfuhl was the first minister, 



il 

who served until 1876 when he was succeeded by Rev. Mr. 
Born, and he in turn by Rev. C. A. Hermann, the present pastor. 

St. John's German Lutheran Church was organized in 1876, 
and occupies Barclay's hall on the corner of Sixth and Market 
streets as a place of worship. Their pastor is Rev. Theodore P. 
Ebert. 

The First Congregational Church was organized the latter 
part of the year 1875, an d Rev. H. M. Tenney called to the pas- 
torate, who yet labors most acceptably in this field. The first 
place of worship was in the old Philharmonic Hall on North 
Fourth street, but since then a hall has been secured on the 
second floor of the Odd Fellows' Building, and nicely fitted up, 
being supplied with sufficient chairs' to seat 250 people. A 
nucleus of a. building fund for a new church has been formed. 

With two or three exceptions all the Steubenville congrega- 
tions are free of debt, while the standing of clergy both intellect- 
ually and morally is and has been high. All of the congregations 
have attached to them Sunday Schools of larger or smaller pro- 
portions, and other machinery for evangelical work. 



Public Buildings, Grounds, &c. 



We shall include in the above not only the work of the people 
in their corporate capacity of city and county but also the work 
of what may be termed semi-public corporations, such as Odd 
Fellows and the Union Seminary Association. First and fore- 
most of our public buildings of course stands the Court House, 
the pride of citizens and the admiration of strangers. Its erec- 
tion was begun in 1870 and concluded in 1874, the whole series 
of county buildings with additional ground purchased costing 
about $300,000, a very moderate sum considering the times and 
the character of the buildings. The structure, a cut of which 
may be seen on the fourth page of the cover, stands on an open 
space of ground on the corner of Market and Third streets. It 
is fire proof throughout and is built of Northern Ohio sandstone, 
presenting a front of 126 feet on Market and 96-' 3 feet on Third 
street. The basement contains the Coroner's office, two furnace 
rooms and law offices. The first floor has two rooms for the 



42 

Recorder, two for the County Auditor and Commissioners, one 
for the Treasurer, one lumber room, and two for the Probate 
Judge. The height of this story is 16 feet 6 inches. On the 
second floor is the Court Room, measuring 50 by 70 feet, and 
40 feet in height, one room for the Prosecuting Attorney, one for 
Sheriff, two for the Clerk, one consultation room, witness and the 
Judge's room. These rooms all average 20 by 24 feet, and are 
all provided with wardrobes, washrooms, and water closets. The 
height of this story is 15 feet 6 inches. On the third floor are 
two library rooms, three jury rooms, and two extra rooms, aver- 
aging 24 by 32 feet. This story is also 15 feet 6 inches high. 
The building is heated by hot air, and supplied with grates in 
addition. The height of the main building from base to the roof 
of Court House is 70 feet. Above the roof extends a tower, the 
height of which, from base to top ot cornice, is 49 feet, from top 
of cornice to roof of tower 32 feet, making the actual height of 
tower 81 feet, and the total height of building from base to top 
of tower, 151 feet. In the center of the tower is a clock with 
illuminated dials 8 feet in diameter. A dial in the Court Room 
also indicates time from the same clock. The Court Room itself 
is of course a main feature of the building and contains some fine 
work in fresco, a life-size portrait of the late Hon. Edwin M. 
Stanton, one of Steubenville's most honored sons, gracing the 
rear wall, and portraits of Washington, Lincoln, the great seal of 
the State and other symbolical emblems ornamenting the curve of 
the ceiling, the whole being crowned with a sky-light of stained 
glass. These frescoes are worth a study, and fully deserving the 
attention of the visitor. The adaptability of the Court House 
not only for the purpose for which it was built but for other 
objects has been well illustrated the past year by the public con- 
ventions which have been held there, and the Loan Exhibition 
which lately closed one of the most complete and successful enter- 
tainments of the kind in the country. The building is conceded 
to be the finest of its kind in the State. Directly north of the 
Court House and connected with it by a covered passage way are 
the Sheriff's dwelling and jail, the former fronting on Third street 
and built of red pressed brick with stone trimmings. It contains 
ten rooms with halls, closets and other conveniences. At its 
rear stands the jail, a two story building of Steubenville brick 
and stone trimmings. It contains three tiers of cells made of 



43 

boiler iron, 27 on the north side for males and 9 on the opposite 
side for females. Each tier has a corridor guarded by an iron 
lattice, and the building is also supplied with sick room, bath 
room, execution room and everything necessary to the successful 
working of the institution. 

A prominent building on North Fourth street is the new Odd 
Fellows' Hall, also used as a Postoffice building, which was com- 
pleted in 1872, at a cost of $12,000, without the ground It is a 
handsome three story brick building, with stone trimmings. The 
upper story is used by the Order as a Lodge room, and contains 
amain hall 72^x34 feet, and 17 feet high, with proper ante- 
rooms. The second floor is occupied by First Congregational 
Church as already intimated, and on the ground floor is the Post- 
office 17x723^ feet and 14 feet high, with all mail facilities The 
receipts at this office reach about $11,000 per annum. 

The Mayor's office occupies a two-story brick building on the 
south side of the public square, where two good sized rooms are 
devoted to the uses of that department, the first floor being fitted 
up for a city prison, and for the Phoenix fire company. The 
Reliance fire company occupy a similar building on North street, 
which will be referred to elsewhere. 

Market street, the main thoroughfare, is paved from end to 
end, a levee built of blocks of sandstone projecting into the river 
at its foot, and a similar one at the foot of Washington street. 
A block of locust pavement is laid on Fourth street, while slag 
from the blast furnaces has been used with considerable success 
in making solid streets elsewhere. Shade trees line nearly all the 
streets, adding to comfort and beauty. The city is exceptionally 
well provided with well paved sidewalks, brick being the material 
generally used, and with solid v stone crossings and covered stone 
culverts in many cases pedestrians can go from one end of 
the town to the other in any kind of weather, without annoyance 
from mud and water. The streets are well lighted at night by 
gas in the central parts and oil in the suburbs. The houses are 
numbered on the Philadelphia plan of 100 for each block. 

The open grounds belonging to the city have as yet been but 
little improved, but the trees planted a short time since on the 
river side give promise of a nice little park of several acres in a 
few years, and the square in the centre of town, formerly occu- 
pied by the Market House, only awaits the hand of taste to make 



44 

it a pleasant resort. The city also has some open ground adjoin- 
ing the reservoir which will probably be utilized some day in a 
similrr manner. 

Probably no better test of the refinement and standing of any 
community could be afforded than in its manner of caring for the 
dead, and any stranger passing through our city will find it time 
well spent to pay a visit to the Union Cemetery in the western 
part of the town. It was first laid out in 1854, and originally 
consisting of fifty acres it has grown with successive additions un- 
til now it embraces a territory of 147 acres, of level, hill and 
valley, with romantic and varied scenery, views of quiet land- 
scapes and rugged wilds, a most fitting place for the abode of the 
remains of the loved ones gone before. There are two entrances 
about a mile and a quarter apart, with handsome gateways of 
stone and iron, and lodge houses adjoining, erected through the 
liberality of Dr. C. C. Beatty. A prominent landmark in the 
Cemetery is the Soldiers' monument completed in 1870 at a cost 
of $8,000. It is a beautiful corinthian column of white marble 
surmounted by a flying eagle, while at the base stand life size 
statues of a soldier and a sailor. Emblems of war and names of 
the fields upon which Jefferson county soldiers bled and died are 
found on the sides. It is superb in design and execution, and no 
one who visits the cemetery should fail to make a close examina- 
tion of it. There are other fine artistic works here well worthy 
of attention, and a half day spent among the miles of walks and 
drives of this beautiful spot will fully repay even the hurried 
traveler. 

St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church has a separate cemetery 
on the Market street extension before reaching the Union Cem- 
etery. 

Water and Fire Departments. 

It is said that Steubenville has the best water works on the 
river between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, and it is more than 
likely that a comparison would prove the statement true. Certain 
it is that they are of sufficient capacity to provide a practically 
illimitable supply of pure water from the Ohio river, which having 
seventy miles of a flow from Pittsburgh without the drainage of 
any large towns has abundant opportunity to free itself from any 



45 

organic or other matter in solution, and to be in excellent con- 
dition for drinking and all domestic uses. In the early days the 
town was supplied with water from springs on the west side 
through wooden pipes, but in 1835 the construction of a regular 
water works was begun at the foot of Adams street, to give a sup- 
ply from the river, and they were put in operation the following 
year. The reservoir located about half way up the hill at the 
head of Adams street was three-quarters of a mile from the works, 
holding 400,000 gallons and 192 feet perpendicular height above 
the pumps, the water was driven through an eight inch pipe with 
an engine of 40 horse power, capable with the other machinery 
of forcing 200,000 gallons into the reservoir each ten hours. Af- 
terwards another and larger basin was constructed west of the 
former, holding 600,000 gallons, thus giving a total capacity of 
1,000,000 gallons. By this time the old machinery was becom- 
ing worn out, and besides the small capacity of engines, pumps 
and pipes was proving insufficient for the growing size of the 
town. In 1864 a radical improvement was decided upon. The 
old building was increased to twice the original size, and a pair 
of new and larger engines and pumps put in, a 20-inch main laid 
to the reservoir, the work being completed in 1867, at a cost of 
$50,000. The machinery now consists of two batteries of two 
and three boilers respectively, two steam engines of 150 horse- 
power each, the newest and best being made at the establishment 
of James Means & Co., in this city, two sets of pumps and the 
other accompanying machinery. Everything, under the charge 
of the Superintendent, Johnson Irwin, is in tip top order, and it 
is a remarkable fact that the city has not been without a full 
water supply in every part through the fault of anything at the 
works for twelve years. In fact such a thing as a water famine in 
our community is unknown in these days. The full capacity of 
the two engines and pumps combined for forcing water into the 
reservoir is at the rate of 2,480,000 gallons every twenty-four 
hours The actual consumption averages 1,280,000 gallons each 
twenty-four hours, keeping the works running about ten hours a 
day, or the work of one engine for eighteen hours. Water is 
distributed through the city first by a 20-inch main running north 
and south on Seventh street in the high part of the town, from 
which an 8-inch pipe extends down Market street to the river, and 
6-inch pipes on the other east and west streets, the laterals con- 
7 



4(3 

necting being usually 4-inches. There are now upwards of fifteen 
miles of pipe laid in the city, of which 2,600 feet are 20-inch, 
and the balance 8-inch, 6-inch, 4-inch and a little 2-inch. The 
latter are only laid in localities where a limited supply of water is 
needed, and are gradually being replaced by pipe of larger sizes. 
The city contains 125 fire plugs for the steamers, and 1725 private 
consumers registered with considerably above that number of 
hydrants. The water tax is an individual matter, and only those 
are compelled to pay it who choose to make use of the water. 
The force of water in the central portions of the city is sufficient 
to send a plug stream to the cornice of a three-story building, a 
very important matter in time of a fire. The original cost of the 
works and the radical improvements of 1864-7 nave a ^ been paid 
for, the only bonds outstanding being less than $6,000 for ex- 
tension of the mains, of which fuller particulars are given farther 
on. 

The fire Department, which is closely connected with that of 
water supply, is also in a high state of efficiency. The last an- 
nual report of the Department showed the apparatus to be in good 
condition and to consist of two steamers, 2 hose carriages, 3 hose 
trucks, 1 hook and ladder truck, &c. The hose on hand and in 
use consists of 1,000 feet of new gum and leather hose, 2^ inch ; 
2,000 feet old gum hose, and 250 feet of 2^ inch gum hose. 
The force of the Department is 1 Chief and 2 Assistant Directors; 
2 engine and hose companies, and 1 hook and ladder company, 
22 men in each, all under charge of experienced officers and in 
first-class working order. The Phcenix company occupies the same 
building that is used for the Mayor's offices already referred to ; 
the Star Hook and Ladder Company using the one adjoining. 
The Reliance Company occupies a two-story brick building on 
North street, which is furnished with all necessary conveniences. 
The Department is conducted on the volunteer plan, although 
the Chief Fire Director and Engineers of the steamers receive 
small salaries, and the members of the companies each receive 
the sum of $10 per annum with other privileges. Alarms are 
given from the bells on the engine houses as well as by a fire 
alarm attached to the Court House bell, which notifies the whole 
city instantly. 

During last year there were 1 2 fires and 4 false alarms, with a 
total loss of $5,050, on which there was an insurance of $2,950, 



47 



making the actual loss $2,100. During the present year, which 
is now more than half gone, not a single dollar has been lost by 
fire, and as a result of this exemption from the devouring element, 
insurance is very low, being down to one-fifth of one per cent, 
on first-class risks. 



City Finances. 



It is generally the case that where a city or county is found 
provided with public buildings, water works, railway communica- 
tions, &c, that there is a large municipal debt with a heavy in- 
terest burden, and consequent heavy taxation. A late magazine 
writer who has figured up the municipal debts of 130 cities of the 
country shows that there has been in the ten years from 1866 to 
1876 the enormous increase of $423,066,624, and in Ohio alone 
the municipal, county and township debts have increased from 
$17,550,497.97 in 1872, to $39,328,569.10 in 1878. It seems to 
have been the practice generally to go on borrowing as long as 
people would lend, until the burden became so heavy as not only 
to prevent further progress in that direction, but to make it very 
difficult to carry the burden already incurred. Thanks, 
however, to the wise foresight displayed by those who have had 
control of affairs, Steubenville and Jefferson county present a 
marked exception to this rule, and the indebtedness which was at 
one time quite heavy, has been steadily reduced, and in fact as to 
the county it has been entirely wiped out, leaving only a trifling 
city and township debt, the former being $35,888.15, divided as 
follows : 

Water Works bonds, due June 

a a tt 

a It << 

Railroad " 



June 


I, 


18S0, 


#1000 


00 


August 


I, 


1 i 


4000 


00 


June 


I, 


1881, 


888 


15 


July 


I, 


< i 


5000 


00 


i 1 


I, 


1882, 


5000 


00 


a 


I, 


1883, 


5000 


00 


a 


I, 


1884, 


5000 


00 


11 


I, 


1885, 


5000 


00 


(< 


I, 


1886, 


5000 


00 



Total, .... $35>S88 15 

Of the above amount the bonds falling due in 1880 are already 
provided for by the tax levy of the present year, leaving less than 



48 

$3 1,000 to be provided for by additional taxation. As the city 
duplicate last year footed up $5,344,420, it will be seen that the 
burden is exceedingly light. All of the railroad bonds in the 
above table bear interest at six per cent., and the water works 
bonds at eight, and such has been the desirability of Steubenville 
city bonds as an investment that they have for years been held at 
a premium. The debt is lower now than it has been for twenty- 
seveu years, and is in rapid process of extinguishment. The as- 
sets of the municipality as such would far more than pay off the 
debt to-day. 

In addition to the above there is an old township railroad 
debt of about $7,000, all of which is provided for by the present 
tax levy, so that it can be counted out. There are also outstand- 
ing $6,000 of school bonds which are provided for. 

As a result of this state of affairs the rate of taxation has un- 
dergone a steady reduction with the reduction of the debt, and 
last year the total for State, County, Township, School and City 
purposes, footed up 17.6 mills on the dollar valuation, a smaller 
figure than any other city of the size in the State. This year it is 
still lower, the levy for the various objects being as follows : 

State taxes, ..... 

County " . 

Township " (in city) 

School " ..... 

City " 

Total, 16.6 " 

The steady reduction of the debt towards extinguishment 
gives promise of a still further reduction of taxation in coming 
years, and with an economical administration of the city govern- 
ment such as we have had in the past the figure doubtless 
can at no distant date be brought down to 15 mills on the dollar, 
which cannot fail to tell heavily in favor of this city as a location 
for manufactories and other enterprises involving valuable 
property. 

Following were the disbursements in the different departments 
of the city goverment for the year ending March 1, 1879 : 



2.9 


mills 


2 I 


(< 


1.6 


i < 


4- 


1 1 


6. 


tt 



49 

Total Paid Balance March 

out. I, 1S79. 

Railroad Bonds and Interest, $ i,Soo $ 1,511.29 

Fire Department, 3,22^.66 1,610.79 

General and Incidental Expenses, 3,069.22 3,060.95 

Hav Scales, 183.94 376-43 

Market House VS-ii 1 898.51* 

Marshal and Police, 7,81 1.S7 1,540.3s 

Public Lamps 4,603.67 2,624.95 

Mears Relief Fund, 7S4.56 269.46 

Streets and Alleys, 11,156.44 4,672.04 

Sinking Fund, 4,000.00 4>377-94 

Fourth Street Improvement, 02 02 

Bridges 493.34 417.7S 

Wharfage 332.01 2 39-S' 

Water Works Bonds, 1,1 1 1.05 1,191.94 

Improvement Water Main, 5,155.61 1,282.78 

Total, $44>°4S-7o $22,877.73 

♦Overdrawn. 

Deducting the amount for improvement of water main and 

reduction of debt we have $31,979 as the amount of all ordinary 

expenditures, including street improvements, &c, which were 
unusually heavy last year. The Mears Fund is not raised by tax- 
ation, but is the interest on a legacy left by a deceased citizen, 
which is expended to aid the worthy poor. 



Sanitary and Climate. 

Good health is conceded to be the first requisite to the enjoy- 
ment of life, and as a healthy city Steubenville has few if any 
superiors. The place being elevated from the river, with a good 
slope towards it, the drainage is excellent in every direction, and 
in no part of the town is there stagnant water or marshes arising 
from natural causes. The hills, enclosing the city on all sides, 
break the force of the winds, and the soil being mostly gravel is 
not easily contaminated with impurities. Surface drainage is 
depended on, and such is the position of the town that every 
hard rain washes it from one end to the other, clearing away all 
refuse which human scavengers have neglected. Malarial fevers 
are unknown, and it is the testimony of physicians whose exper- 
ience has extended over other places as well as this, that Steuben- 
ville is the healthiest town in which they have practiced. The 
most prominent disease of the place is consumption, but even this 
does not furnish enough cases to impair the favorable health ratio. 
The death rate of any city is the crucial test of its health, and in 
this connection the following figures as returned by the Ward 
Assessors this season as the number of births and deaths in the 
year just closed will be of interest : 



50 

Rirths. Deaths. 

First Ward, 32 11 

Second " 7 ; 20 

Third " 5*8 22 

Fourth " . 28 21 

Fifth " 43 9 

Sixth " 30 11 

Total, 264 94 

It will be noticed that the ratio of births to deaths is nearly 

three to one, while the death rate in the thousand, basing the 

population at 14,000 people, is only 6.71, or allowing 41 per 

cent, for deficits as is done in the United States census reports, it 

would still be only 9.43. When it is considered that the death 

rate of the principal cities of the country ranges from 15 to 38.3 

in the 1,000, even leaving out those places which are specially 

subject to yellow fever and other epidemics, it will be seen that 

the rate is exceptionally low. Hence, while the citizens would 

doubtless extend a cordial welcome to physicians as well as others 

locating in their midst, they cannot be advised to emigrate 

hither in the expectation of amassing an immediate fortune from 

their patients. 

*- « -~ 

Real Estate and Rents. 



Good building sites for manufactories, with railroad and river 
fronts, abound, and are to be had on favorable terms. We do 
not give prices as they are constantly fluctuating, but any inform- 
ation on that point will be gladly supplied by the committee 
having charge of this pamphlet, and parties writing to them will 
receive a prompt answer. The sites for dwellings are also plenti- 
ful and desirable, and lots in the newer portions of the city 
especially, are to be had at low prices and easy payments. Most 
of the dwellings have been erected for occupancy by their own 
proprietors, and consequently wear an air of home comfort which 
is a distinguishing feature of the place. The evils of the tene- 
ment house system have never been felt here, and the successful 
endeavors of all classes of our people to obtain homes of their own 
have had much to do with the conservative character of the pop- 
ulation. 

The fact of so many owning their own homes has also had 
the effect of keeping down the price of rents for such dwellings 
as are in the market. A comfortable house can be had for $5 per 
month, while for $20 one of superior comforts and elegancies can 
be obtained. The value of real estate here in the future is evi- 
dently destined to increase, as the indications point that way, 
thus affording a safe and remunerative form of investment. 



o 



STEUBENVILLE. 



SKETCH OF 

MANUFACTURING, 

Jrmtcittionallotncr \ nstthsfrms. 

ITS ADVANTAGES FOR 

Business or Residence. 



pUBU5HED BY JDlRECTION OF THE flTY £oU^C1L. 



ALBERT F. MATLACK, 
R. L. BROWNLEE, 
GEO. W. ALBAN. - 



COMPILED BY 

JOSEPH B. DOYLE. 



STEUBENVILLE : 

PRINTED AT STEl HKNVIIXE HERALD BOOK AND JOB PRINTING HOUSE, 
1879. 







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